Archive for June, 2009
I have seen a trend in our discussions in the past few months with many people in many industries, especially resort real estate. It usually starts with a conversation about marketing on a shoestring budget or how to market to be ahead of the curve as things begin to turn. I think regardless of industry, you need to pay close attention to the relationships that you have at hand and stay in front of them as much as possible. It is far more economical to turn prospects into customers than it is to create new prospects, so your existing database should be a primary focus during these slower times. And while you’re at it, why not take the time to review your processes and make sure that your data has the utmost integrity and can be fully leveraged as things begin to turn. After all, we create the worst habits during the best of times so now may be time to hunker down and really get your processes refined and your data cleaned up.
Regardless of the strength of your CRM system, it is critical to understand that the people involved in the process will be the key factor in the integrity and accuracy of the data the system provides. We ask our clients to make sure that all parties involved hold the integrity of the data to the highest priority. Without accurate data, the accuracy of our system is flawed.
So here are six easy buckets of information that you need to be collecting. Read the rest of this entry »
The other day, I was sitting outside on my deck with my family after dinner while my two daughters were eating popsicles. It was one of those few picturesque moments. Everyone’s behaving and we’re having a real conversation with my five-year-old daughter. Suddenly, she notices a weird looking bug on the table. Neither my wife nor I had ever seen anything like it. All you could see were several legs sticking out of a shell that look like a piece of bark. We talked with our daughter about how we had no idea what kind of bug it was and her first response astounds me. Keep in mind, she is just learning how to read and write… and this five-year-old says, “Maybe we should look it up on Google? I bet we could find it there.” Read the rest of this entry »
A friend of mine recently posted this story from Good Morning America to her facebook page and it served as a great reminder as to why I love Greenville and how far it has come in the last decade or so.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/Weekend/story?id=7774018&page=1
Having grown up in Greenville and going to college in the small college town of Clemson just 45 minutes down the highway, I always used to long to live in a “big city.” So, after college my wife and I moved to St. Louis. Read the rest of this entry »